Automobile door lock

ABSTRACT

An automobile safety door lock which is positioned so that it cannot be reached by a wire, coat hanger or other tool from the outside through a slight opening of the window so as to prevent theft and tampering with a vehicle. The lock is mounted in a recessed well formed in the interior surface of the door which can be easily reached by an occupant within the vehicle but cannot be moved from outside the vehicle with a wire or other tool so as to unlock the door from the outside. The recessed lock also improves the safety of the passengers as it is mounted so that it will not be hit by a passenger during an accident.

I United States Patent r1113, 12,5 3

[72] Inventors Anthony J. Roppo 2,665,934 H1954 Allen 292/216 12508 S. Throop St., Chicago, Ill. 60643; 2,965,402 12/ i960 Hollar 292/280 X Edmund J. Langdo, 12012 S. Michigan, 3,069,889 12/1962 Johnstone 70/147 21 A l N $352 60628 Primary Examiner-George F. Mautz 1 22 1970 Assistant Examiner-Edward J. McCarthy gg s :2 1971 Attorney-Hill, Sherrnan, Meroni, Gross & Simpson [54] AUTOMOBILE DOOR LOCK I i t 2 Chims3 Drawing Figs ABSTRACT: An automobile safety door lock which Is positioned so that it cannot be reached by a wire, coat hanger or [52] US. Cl 292/1, other tool from the outside through a Slight opening of the 292/DIG- 27 window so as to prevent theft and tampering with a vehicle. [51] 'f Cl 1505c 19/00 The lock is mounted in a recessed well formed in the interior [50] Field of Search 70/174, Surface of the door which can be easily reached by an Occu 181? 292/336-3 280 pant within the vehicle but cannot be moved from outside the [56] Referenm vehicle with a wire or other tool so as to unlock the door from the outside. The recessed lock also improves the safety of the UNITED STATES PATENTS passengers as it is mounted so that it will not be hit by a pas- 2,636,765 4/1953 Dal] 292/216 senger during an accident.

AUTOMOBILE DOOR LOCK BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates in general to locks for vehicles as, for example, automobile doors, and in particular to a safety lock which cannot be operated outside the vehicle.

2. Description of the Prior Art It has been conventional to provide inside door lock actuators for vehicles which extend upwardly from the door adjacent the lower edge of the window glass. With such lock actuators, the door is locked by depressing the door lock actuator to a depressed position which causes the outside release latch to be disengaged from the door latch. When the safety lock actuator is moved upwardly to the unlocked position, the outside door release button or lever may then engage the door catch and the door may be opened. With the locking button actuator extending upwardly from the portion of the door adjacent the lower edge of the window glass, it has been possible for thieves or vandals to extend a wire to engage the button and move it from the locked to the unlocked position, thus allowing the thief or vandal to enter the vehicle to steal it or the contents of the vehicle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a safety door lock actuator for a vehicle or other device in which the locking lever is controlled by a lock actuator which is mounted in a well formed in the inside surface of the door and which, although easily accessible to an occupant of the vehicle, cannot be reached and actuated by a person outside the vehicle by the use of wire or other tools. The recess in which the lock actuator is mounted also provides protection from injury of passengers in that the recess prevents the lock actuator from being engaged during an accident.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, although variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure, and in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of the inside of a vehicle door illustrating the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line II-II of FIG. I; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on line III-III of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 illustrates a vehicle door designated generally as and supported by hinges from a vehicle 11 and which has an inner panel 12. As best shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a recess 13 is formed in the inner panel 12 of the door and a safety lock actuator button 14 is mounted so that it extends into the recess 13. The button 14 is connected to a shaft 16 which passes through a guide 17. The shaft 16 has a bent portion 18 on its inner end which passes through an opening formed in an L- shaped lever 19 that has its midportion connected by a pivot pin 21 to the inner wall 12 of the door. The second end 22 of the L-shaped lever 19 is connected by a pin 23 to the pivoted locking plate 24 of the conventional door latch mechanism. The conventional locking lever 24 is supported by pin 26 mounted on the rear edge of the door.

An actuating lever 28 extends upwardly from the doorlatching mechanism 38 and is formed with an opening in which a lug 27 that is attached to the locking plate 24 is received. The upper end of the actuating lever 28 has an extension 29 that is received in an opening 31 of a pivoted releasing member 32 which is pivotally attached by a pin 36 to the front wall 25 of the door. A spring 34 spring biases the actuating lever 28 and the release plate 32 to the latched position. The plate 32 has a projection 33 which is engageable with a pushbutton release, not shown, which is' mounted in the outer wall of the door and which when pressed engages the portion 33 to rotate the plate 32 counterclockwise relative to FIG. 2, thus moving the actuating lever 28 upwardly relative to the door as illustrated in FIG. 2. The door latch 46 illustrated in cutaway in FIG. 1 will be released by the actuating lever 28 if the safety lock button 14 is in the unlocked position. When this occurs, the locking plate 24 will be in the position shown in FIG. 2, and the extension 27 will move the actuating lever 28 relative to the latching mechanism 38 so that as the actuating lever 28 is moved upwardly by the rotation of the member 32, the latch 46 will be released so that the door may be opened.

When the locking button 14 is depressed or moved to the left relative to FIG. 1 to move the lever 19 so that the plate 24 is moved counterclockwise relative to FIG. 2, the extension 27 will move the lower end of actuating lever 28 to the right relative to FIG. 2 so that it moves out of engagement with the latch-actuating mechanism contained in the unit 38 so that the latch 46 cannot be released by movement of the plate 32 with a pushbutton which engages the extension 33. Thus, the position of the button 14 controls the position of plate 24 to move the lower end (relative to FIG. 2) of the actuating lever 28 so that it either provides a mechanical connection between the member 32 and the latch 46 or disconnects the member 32 from the latch 46.

An inside door handle 43 is pivoted to the inside panel 12 by a pivot 44 and has a rod 42 that connects to a lever 41 connected to the latch mechanism 38 by a pin 39. Movement of the inside latch 43 also -moves the actuating lever 28 through a conventional linkage, not shown, so that the door may be opened from the inside. If the safety lock 14 is in the locked position, the lower end of the actuating lever 28 will be moved to the right relative to FIG. 2 and the inside latch 43 will not release the latch 46 upon actuation of the handle 43.

The locking plate 24 has an extension 37 that extends toward the outer side of the door and which is engaged by the outer door lock that is actuated by a key in a conventional manner.

The latch 38, the actuating lever 28, the member 32 and the locking member 24 are conventional. The conventional pushbutton actuator extends above the glass of the door and is connected to the pin 23 to actuate the locking plate 24. In the instant invention the conventional locking rod is removed and the L-shaped lever 19 is mounted on the door with the pivot pin 21 and is connected by the pin 23 to the locking lever 24. The recess 13 is formed in the inner panel of the door and the locking shaft 16 is mounted so that its end 14 extends into the recess 13 for actuating the locking plate 24.

Thus, it is seen that this invention allows a simple modification to be made to a standard door latch and locking structure so as to provide a recessed inside lock which cannot be actuated by vandals or thieves from outside the car with wire or other tools. Since all of the structure of the latch is conventional except the L-shaped lever 19, the pivot 21, the rod 16, bracket 17 and the recess 13 into which the locking button 14 extends, conventional parts may be utilized for the remaining latching structure. The invention is well adapted for conversion from standard locking structures by merely removing the vertical push rod that normally has an upper end with a button that extends above the glass and by replacing it with the L- shaped lever 19, which is pivotally connected to the inner panel 12 of the door by pin 21 and extending the rod 16 from the end of the lever 19 into a recess 13 mounted in the door. This allows a simple conversion of standard doors. With new vehicles the installation may be made at the factory and is very inexpensive.

Although this invention has been described with respect to a preferred embodiment, it is not to be so limited as changes and modifications may be made therein which fall within the full intent and scope as defined by the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. A safety lock for a door having a locking means movable to a first unlocked position and to a second locked position, comprising:

a recess formed in said door;

a lock actuator extending from said recess in said door to said locking means to move it to the first or second posimom said locking means comprises a locking plate pivotally connected to said door;

a coupling lever extends between said locking plate and said member and pivotally connected to said door;

the axes pivotally supporting said locking plate and said coupling lever are generally at right angles to each other; and

said coupling lever is generally L-shaped and formed with a pair of legs and is pivotally supported adjacent the junction of said legs.

2. A safety door lock according to claim 1 wherein one end said lock actuator comprises a member. supported f of one of said legs is pivotally connected to said member and gitudinal movement relative to said door and with one end which extends into said recess and the other end coupled to said locking plate;

one end of the other of said legs is pivotally connected to said locking plate. 

1. A safety lock for a door having a locking means movable to a first unlocked position and to a second locked position, comprising: a recess formed in said door; a lock actuator extending from said recess in said door to said locking means to move it to the first or second position; said locking means comprises a locking plate pivotally connected to said door; said lock actuator comprises a member supported for longitudinal movement relative to said door and with one end which extends into said recess and the other end coupled to said locking plate; a coupling lever extends between said locking plate and said member and pivotally connected to said door; the axes pivotally supporting said locking plate and said coupling lever are generally at right angles to each other; and said coupling lever is generally L-shaped and formed with a pair of legs and is pivotally supported adjacent the junction of said legs.
 2. A safety door lock according to claim 1 wherein one end of one of said legs is pivotally connected to said member and one end of the other of said legs is pivotally connected to said locking plate. 